That's Guam Baby: January 2010

Saturday, January 30, 2010

How Encouraging!

This is Alice. Would you believe that she has seven boys? That is right, seven, count them. They are precious. And Alice is a single mom. She gets all seven boys dressed and ready for every meeting. She is never missing. And on Sundays, they always have comments prepared. What an awesome example.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

As Requested...More Pics of Jason Cooking

Two mornings a week Jason makes breakfast for the Bethel family. This morning Jason was making 85 scrambled eggs. Not to mention the side dishes. You guys have to see it to believe it. I am kitchen helper with him on Wednesday morning. I always bring my camera, because I still don't believe it.

Meet Some of Our Family...

This is Shem Querimit. He has been off island doing volunteer Kingdom Hall construction work. Seeing his pictures and hearing his stories has been super encouraging. We got really close to Shem when we were here the first time. We are so proud of what he is doing.

Our new couple, Hannah and Neil Abid. They make such a beautiful couple. Everyone had a great time at their wedding.

Debbie Gump, that's our girl. She is a single sister who volunteers at the branch. We love her laughable nature and she loves to sing her heart out...so of course, Jason and Deb have a blast together.

This is Micah and May Griffith. We love these guys. They are some of the most hospitable people we have ever met. You can always count on them to be positive and ready for a good time.

This is Dawn and Jarrod Klingbeil. They are on the outer islands serving as Kingdom Hall Construction Servants. We got to work with them here in Guam for a few months in construction. If you ever want to find them, follow the laughter. They are always cracking people up.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Poor lil guy:(

This lil guy didn't make it, but be assured there are millions here and even ones that are smaller.

Heyyy!

As you can see, my wife really stands out here in Guam! This was taken after a wedding we attended. She was the only blond there. The sister of the two girls on the outside just got married and they asked me to be the M.C. at the wedding and that was a huge privilege. These girls have really treated us like family.

Seriously?

Now here is something you don't see every day...well, at least not in the states. Lets just say that there are a lot of roosters running around on island and so what would happen if one just happened to get entered and it just happened to win?

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Our New Missionaries

This is Troy Hamasaki and Sean Duarte. They are new missionaries and they just received their assignment to the atoll of Ebeye (pronounced e-buy). They are very excited to start their new adventure. They are both Ministerial Training School grads. Troy is from Hawaii and Sean came here from Tennesse. We have learned a lot having them here at the branch and will miss them when they go.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Anybody Want To Buy A Yart?

Let's just say that they do speak English here...but I think this sign is evidence of some severe translation issues.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Gab Gab Beach

We went to a beach today that is part of a reserve. The fish there were amazing. Pictures do not do it justice. We promise that we will get better with the camera. Those fish are so fast. Saw a huge sea turtle. What a beautiful animal. It was a very humbling experience. Sea turtles have such sweet faces. The sea turtle on 'Nemo' always pops in my mind when I see one. There were thousands of fish. It was awesome.

Change

One thing I have learned by being here is that I really, really do not like change. Once it is done and over with, I do alright. But the process is painful. And here, because our Bethel family is small, any changes affect us greatly. And there have been SO many changes. I know there are people out there that thrive on change, and I am not one of them. I love to change things up, but that is different from a change that will be permanent. I guess I am learning a lot about how to love people that move away. And that, in the big picture, they will always be there.

We just want everyone to know what a great time we had on our vacation with all of you. One thing we really regret is not taking any pictures. Almost every picture posted from our trip are pictures that were taken by other people. If you do not see a picture of the time we spent with you, please know that we apologize for being so absent minded. We really have no idea why we were not going crazy with the camera. Overwhelmed, I guess. So we promise next time to take many more pictures. Memories are the important thing anyway, right? Not some silly blog...

Funny facts about Guam...

There are no Starbucks here.

Ross has a moomoo isle.

No matter what day or time you go to Ross, it will be packed. It is the highest selling Ross in the world.

If you are out in service and want to have someone in the car group get out with you at the next door you say "Want to get down with me?" Sounds like they want to dance, right?

And everyone says the expression "I have" in reference to I have something, I have it, I have them. For instance, "Do you have the keys?...I have."

You could drive around the whole island in one hour.

We can be on the beach in 15 minutes.

We can be sitting in a Kingdom Hall in 2 minutes. We live above the hall.

Fresh coconut tastes nothing like sweetened shredded coconut.

It will rain...it will be sunny...everyday.

At a gathering there will almost always be karaoke.

All the children call us auntie and uncle.

It is customary to take your shoes off before entering anyone's home.

When the light turns green, always wait. Two more cars will run the red light guaranteed.

At weddings they typically have a talent show arranged. Many friends and family will put on different acts for the bride and groom. That replaces dancing.

When greeting others, you lean in with a kiss on the cheek. But you never really make contact, it is more a kissing face and your cheeks touch.

If an older person comes into an establishment where there is a line, like at the DMV, you have to let the older individual go straight to the front of the line.

Whenever you enter stores they greet you with "Hafa Adai", pronounced half a day. It is like saying good morning or just hello.

They use MSG at almost EVERY restaurant. Even if you go out for Italian, you need to request no MSG. Pounding headache, here we come.

The fastest speed limit on island is 45 mph.

This is no joke. Superbowl Sunday, in the states, of course, is on Sunday. Well, here in Guam, because we are a day ahead, Superbowl is on Monday. The schools had so much trouble getting children to attend on Superbowl Monday that they deemed it a holiday. Now, all the kids have Superbowl off school...no joke.

Just for your info...

Maybe you are wondering, where is Palau? And how far is it from Guam? Even though Guam is a U.S. territory, it is part of Micronesia. Micronesia encompasses many different island groups. They span a distance that is the equivalent of going from L.A. to New York. Only the distance is made up of 95% water. Anyway, Palau is about an hour plane ride from Guam. It too, is part of Micronesia. And although it is relatively close, it is a completely different world, both culturally and under the water. You will notice a huge difference in water color and sea life in our Palau pictures compared to the pictures we have taken in Guam waters.

What do we do all week?

We get asked this question a lot. What is our schedule?

Jay
Monday-Cooks in the kitchen-8am to 5pm
Tues-Makes breakfast for the whole family, office work-6am to 4pm
Wed-Cooks breakfast again, office work-6am to 4pm
Thurs-Grocery shops for the coming week-8am to 5pm
Friday-Office work, menus, meeting with his department-8am to 5pm

(Can you believe he does all the grocery shopping?)

Miki
Monday-Housekeeping-8am to 5pm
Tuesday-Laundry-8am to 5pm
Wednesday-Kitchen helper with Jay (to get the tables set up and cleaned up for each meal), housekeeping-6:30am to 3:30pm
Thursday-Housekeeping-8am to 5pm
Friday-Maintenance-8am to 5pm

Somewhere in there are Morning Worship (with Morning Worship comments every two weeks), meetings, Family Worship, family watchtower study with the branch, Bible reading, personal study, weekend kitchen duties, meeting parts, service, workouts and chill outs. But we don't have to grocery shop, clean, do yard work, cook, or wash our clothes on our own time. Unless, of course, you're picky-then you are cooking and washing on the weekends.

How many times in the day do you change clothes?

Here at bethel, one of the phenomenons is that we end up changing our clothes like crazy. Here is a typical Monday...Wake up and change into workout clothes (1), shower and change into breakfast clothes (2), eat and then change into work clothes (3), change into dress clothes for lunch (4), change back into work clothes (5), change into dress clothes to give a tour (6), change back into work clothes (7), change into dress clothes for family Watchtower study (8), change into pjs (9). And then we do it all over again. Are you tired from just reading about changing all those times?

That's Guam Baby